Can U.S. Democracy Still Be Saved?
This is the way democracy ends: with a whimper.
The day after President Biden’s fiery Jan. 12 speech in favor of eliminating or reforming the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema let it be known that they were a big “no” vote on that.
Without their votes, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act are dead in the water, because no Republican is going to support expanding the franchise. On Jan. 19, Sen. Chuck Schumer forced a vote on amending the filibuster, but it was purely performative. No reasonable observer expected any other outcome.
And that means the Democrats’ already uphill fight toward the November midterm elections just got a lot steeper.
To be honest, this ignoble outcome has been growing in like...